Rolling the Dice on Well-Being

Key Takeaways:

Tabletop role‑playing games (TTRPGs) can meaningfully support emotional well‑being by creating a low‑pressure, structured space for connection, helping teens and young adults practice social interaction, collaboration and communication without high real‑world stakes.
TTRPGs foster creativity, agency and belonging, offering players a chance to co‑create stories, build community and experience a sense of purpose and ownership that can counter isolation and anxiety.

If you were one of the 100 million viewers of the latest Stranger Things season, you might recall the iconic scenes of young people in a basement immersed in an imaginative board game (just don’t call it a “board game”). For many people, tabletop role-playing games, often shortened to TTRPGs, conjure images of dice, character sheets and fantasy worlds filled with dragons and wizards. But beneath the storytelling and imaginative play is something much deeper: a powerful tool for connection, creativity and mental health.

In a recent conversation with WellPower’s Matt Lescroart, LPC, we learned how tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) can support emotional well-being, especially for teens and young adults navigating anxiety, isolation and disrupted social development. Drawing on years of clinical experience and group facilitation, Lescroart described TTRPGs as far more than games.

“I think tabletop role-playing games are essentially playing pretend with rules,” he said. “The thing that it really lets you do is spend time with the people that you want to spend time with, the people that you care about.”

That combination of imagination, structure and shared purpose is at the heart of why TTRPGs can be such a meaningful mental health support.

What are tabletop role playing games?

TTRPGs are, at their core, storytelling games where players work together to create characters, act out scenes and use their characters’ strengths to overcome challenges set by the Game Master (GM). Dungeons & Dragons, originally created in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, was the first TTRPG to combine military strategy games and fantasy worlds into a cohesive game. Since then, TTRPGs have become popular worldwide and popular movies and books like Star Wars, Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” and more have been adapted into TTRPGs, as well.

A structured space for connection

One of the most significant benefits of tabletop role-playing games is their ability to create a low-pressure social environment. Lescroart, a licensed professional counselor with WellPower’s Emerson St. program, has facilitated a TTRPG group for nearly five years, primarily working with young adults who experience social anxiety.

“Our main focus has been helping young adults with social anxiety,” he said. “A lot of young people have a hard time venturing outside of a very small social group and most of the time that social group is entirely online.”

Tabletop games provide an alternative. Instead of unstructured socializing, players gather around a shared goal, such as protecting a town or overcoming a powerful enemy. This creates a sense of purpose that makes interaction feel safer and more manageable.

“If we’re all communally focusing on getting rid of a villain or making sure a township doesn’t fall to a horde of dragons, we’ve got a common goal,” Lescroart said. “We all have moments to shine.”

That shared objective reduces pressure and encourages collaboration rather than competition.

Practicing real-world skills in a low-stakes setting

Beyond social connection, tabletop role-playing games offer players the chance to practice essential life skills. Communication, collaboration and problem-solving are baked into every session.

“If you want to succeed, you have to communicate and you have to be with the other people on your team,” Lescroart said. “You have to have a unified goal and collaborative strategy in order to overcome this thing.”

Importantly, these skills are practiced in a space where mistakes are safe. When a conversation goes poorly or a plan falls apart, the consequences are limited to the game world.

“If they fumble a social interaction in D&D, they can just be like, ‘Oh, my character is awkward,’” he explained. “It’s not me who’s awkward in this situation.”

This emotional buffer can be especially valuable for people with anxiety, allowing them to experiment with new behaviors without fear of lasting harm or long-term consequences.

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Play as a window into emotional experience

Lescroart also drew parallels between tabletop role-playing games and play therapy models used with children. In both cases, how someone plays can offer insight into how they experience the world.

“Play therapy really lets us look into a window of what’s going on inside the child,” he said. “I feel like the same is true for tabletop role-playing games.”

He described working with a young person who focused heavily on optimizing their character build, creating rigid systems to control outcomes. When unexpected challenges arose in the game, the player became distressed.

“That gave me an insight into how they operate in their real life, too,” Lescroart said. “They felt a deep need to create these really rigid structures so that they didn’t experience distress when they were exposed to something unknown.”

As the Game Master (GM), Lescroart can gently introduce uncertainty and support players as they learn to adapt, reinforcing resilience in a natural and engaging way.

GMs are responsible for running the tabletop role play sessions and presenting players with different scenarios, challenges and obstacles to overcome in order to move the game forward.

Community built on belonging

For many players, tabletop role-playing games become more than a hobby. They become a community.

“A lot of people are there not because they’re actively seeking out something weird, but because they’re trying to find organic, in-person community with others” Lescroart said. “They’ve tried other spaces and something just didn’t completely click.”

TTRPG communities often attract people who value creativity, humor and collaboration. Over time, groups develop shared language, inside jokes and lasting friendships.

“If enough of us get together and agree that we like this thing, then that thing is kind of important because we all agree that it’s important to us,” he said. “The shared sense of ownership over the game, the journey and the outcomes help people forge bonds with one another.”

These organic communities can provide a sense of belonging that is difficult to find elsewhere, especially for individuals who have felt marginalized or isolated.

Lower barriers, wider access

One of the most accessible aspects of tabletop role-playing games is their low barrier to entry. Unlike many hobbies, TTRPGs do not require expensive equipment or specialized spaces.

“You can do the entire thing without spending a dime,” Lescroart said. “You could just be sitting around talking, using your imagination.”

Free starter adventures, premade characters and online dice rollers make it easy for new players to try the experience without a major commitment. Games can be played in person or virtually, expanding access for those who may not feel comfortable gathering in physical spaces or don’t have in-person gathering spaces nearby.

“While this can seem like a daunting hobby to get into, a cost barrier doesn’t have to exist,” Lescroart said. “People have the ability to overcome that with widely available, free materials and tools.”

More than a game

For Lescroart, the value of tabletop role-playing games ultimately comes down to connection and creativity.

“We don’t really get a lot of avenues to express ourselves creatively in this world,” he said. “Having an avenue to express our creativity is probably one of the most important things that we can do with each other socially.”

Whether through slaying dragons, negotiating peace treaties or laughing over inside jokes that only make sense at the table, tabletop role-playing games offer something rare: a shared space where people can belong, experiment and grow together.

In a world where isolation and anxiety are increasingly common, rolling the dice might be one way to reconnect — not just with others, but with ourselves.

Want to Access Mental Health Services at WellPower? Here’s How:

If you need mental health support, WellPower is here to help. Click here to learn about accessing mental health services at WellPower or call (303) 504-7900. We gladly welcome Medicaid members, and we accept a range of Medicare and commercial insurance plans.

For immediate, round-the-clock support – especially outside of WellPower’s open hours – you can call, text or chat 988, the Mental Health Lifeline. In Colorado, you can also visit a walk-in center for immediate, in-person help in a crisis. Denver’s 24/7/365 walk-in center (operated by WellPower) is at 4353 E. Colfax Ave. Other locations are listed here.

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